I fell in love with a new song a few weeks ago. Sometimes that happens. I hear a song and from the first moment, it connects with me, as if it’s somehow meant for me. It’s called Fight Song by Rachel Platten. One of my favorites lines goes: “And all those things I didn’t say, wrecking balls inside my brain, I will scream them loud tonight. Can you hear my voice this time?”

The song is about fighting for the life you want, finding your voice, putting words to those things that have been suffocating you.

Sometimes, Bridget, we keep things to ourselves because we think it’s better or we don’t know who to tell. Sometimes we deal with hard things on our own, because, well, everyone has to deal with hard stuff, right?

It’s true, we all have silent struggles. We all deal with things that we don’t share. And in a world of social media oversharing, holding back doesn’t seem like such a bad thing.

Except for when those things we don’t say become wrecking balls in our lives and our minds, ricocheting around until we’re fragments of ourselves. The struggles we hide can grow until they destroy the best parts of our lives while we watch, bound and gagged by our own fear.

But you have the power, Bridget. You can corral those wrecking ball words and speak them. You can take back your life from those silent monsters you struggle against. And you don’t have to do that alone, whether your fight is against yourself or a situation or another person. But no one can help you until you name your battle, until you call it out and stare it in the face.

When you say those words, when you let them out of your head and force them into the light, you take the first step toward fighting back. Don’t let your silent battles strangle you or muffle your voice. Fight back. Take back your life.

No matter what monsters you’re facing, you have power, Bridget. You have a match. You can let it burn out, smothered by the words you didn’t say and the battles you felt too weak to fight. Or you can scream those wrecking ball words, reclaiming your voice, and use that match to make an explosion that blows your monsters to pieces.

I hope you choose the second one and remind the world of your presence. Boom. Bridget is here, and she’s got a lot of fight left in her.

Love,

What’s Dear Bridget all about? It’s a series of letters to a hypothetical teen girl named Bridget. Why Bridget? It means strong. And it represents the current generation of young women. These letters are my attempt to break through the chaos and the crap that’s flying at today’s young woman in order to offer advice and encouragement, from me and other incredible women who remember what it was like to be in her shoes.

If you’re a teen girl and you’ve got a question or issue you’d like us to address, let me know. Just click on the contact button (that round envelope icon at the top of the sidebar) and send me your thoughts. If you’re an awesome adult woman who remembers those teen years clearly and would like to write to Bridget, feel free to contact me and tell me about yourself.